CH ERUBINI, MARIA-LUIGI-CARLO-ZENOBI-SALVADOR, was born in Florence in 1760. At nine years of age be commenced the study of composition under the two Felicia, father and eon, both of whom dying, he was transferred, first to Bizzari, and afterwards to Castrucci. In 1773 he composed a mass and a motet, which excited a great sensation in his native city; and during the five following years he produced many other works, both for the church and the theatre, which met with decided success. This attracted the notice of the grand-duke Leopold IL of Tuscany, who in 1778 granted him a pen sion, and enabled him to complete his studies under the celebrated Sarti, at Bologna, with whom he passed nearly four years, not only receiving much valuable instruction from that master, but also assist ing him in filling np his scores, a practice to which, under such superintendence, his skill in this branch of composition may in great measure bo attributed. In 1734 be was invited to London, where he continued two years, and composed his operas La Finta Principessa,' and Giulio Sabino,' in the latter of which the famous musico Marchesi made his at the King's Theatre. In 1786 Cherubim' quitted London to settle in Paris, and France thenceforward became his adopted country and the scene of his greatest triumphs. He however occasionally visited Italy, and in 1788 brought out his Ifigenia in Anlide ' at Turin. Returning to Paris in the same year, he gave, at the Acad6mie Royale, his .'Demophoon: The opera of ' Lodoiska was produced in 1791, at the Th68tre Feydeau, an event that forms an epoch In the annals of the comic opera. ILodoiska' was succeeded by Elias," 3164:16e," Les deux Journ6es,"Anacreon; and L'HOtellerie Portugaise.' In 1805 Cherubini was invited to Vienna, and there brought out, at the Imperial Theatre, his ' Faniska.' His fame now became European, and in 1815 he was invited to London by the Philharmouie Society, for which he composed an overture, a sym phony, and a grand concerted vocal piece, all of which were performed under his own direction at the concerts of that distinguished society.
They were however but moderately successful, though they certainly exhibit the pen of a master. Finding himself injured by the changes making by the restored dynasty in the musical as well as the other government establishments of Paris, Cherubini resigned some of his situations in disgust ; but ho was soon recalled, and became composer of the Chapelle du P.oi, Professor of Composition at the Ecole-Royale (of which in 1822 he was made Director), a member of the Acad6mie Royale des Beaux Arts, and Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. His last theatrical work was 'Ali Baba,' a grand opera, produced in 1833, but, though received with every mark of respect by the French public, it did not keep possession of the stage. He died in March 1842, and his obsequies were celebrated in a most solemn and distinguished manner. His own fine 'Requiem,' the last composed of his masses, was performed on the occasion.
In instrumental music Cherubini's fame has spread throughout Europe. But it is in the field of sacred music that his genius ex panded in its full dimensions. His masses, psalms, motets, &c., unite the most learned construction and the charms of the most original and sweetest melody. His mass 'A Trois Voix' is a masterpiece, and of itself sufficient to ensure the composer great and lasting reputation. Of his secular vocal works, we only need mention his admirable finale to 'Les deux Jounaees,' of which M. Castil-Blaze has given so pic turesque a description and so laboured an analysis in his work on the French opera. The other compositions of this great artist are too numerous to be even named here.